A special book has arrived at DCPAS

The Marionet Documentation Centre on the Performing Arts and Science is not only always open for enquiries and requests, but is also constantly expanding!

 

One of the most recent titles you can find here is ‘La Découvreuse Oubliée: Marthe Gautier et la Découverte de la Trisomie 21’, whose author, Élisabeth Bouchaud, was one of the keynote speakers at the 3rd edition of the International Colloquium Theatre About Science, which we co-organised in 2025.

 

This play explores the discovery of Down’s syndrome by Marthe Gautier, an achievement long attributed to her colleague Jérôme Lejeune. Seeing her scientific credit swiftly dismissed, Gautier would only reveal her version of the story 50 years later. And the Ethics Committee of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research would find in her favour. The play also explores the battle for the legalisation of abortion, to which Lejeune was fiercely opposed.

 

French-speaking people interested in theatre and science, this book is for you!